Bumper Crop Despite Some Changes, Pinball Still Remains A Three-dimensional Universe Under Glass

May 30, 1986|by GEOFF GEHMAN, The Morning Call

For many years pinball was a no-nonsense amusement. Launch a small steel ball; watch it rebound endlessly off bumpers and sail through gates; flip it lazily or urgently up the playing field; observe more ricochets and sailings and a few bonus catches; peek at the tally on the backglass and that day's top score; nudge, push, goose, rock, shove and generally abuse the machine until a tilt or a gutter ball.

In the old days, pinball pitted human against machine. During extremely healthy runs, player and game became partners. One always knew, however, what was lord and who was serf.

These days, the gap is much closer. Machines often seem human. Digitized voices invite, threaten, cajole, laugh, chatter, imitate real-world sounds and noises, sing computerized ditties. One game, "High Speed," features chase music, shrieking sirens, police-radio bulletins, a revving car engine, a rotating police light on top of the backglass and the chilling, all-too- familiar command "Pull over!" The machine even adjusts its replay percentages according to a player's skill.

Because of increasingly complex combinations, many current pinball machines closely resemble Rube Goldberg contraptions with flashing lights or miniature golf courses which converse. They may not simulate a humid jungle or the pressurized interior of a space shuttle, but they are infinitely more stimulating than their ancestors.

One can thank the video-game revolution for many of pinball's extra visuals, aurals, tactiles, challenges, rewards and flash. In the late 1970s and early '80s machines like "Space Invaders" and "Pac-Man" gave players of coin-operated games much-needed colors, noises and fantasies.

"When people play a video game they picture themselves as the pivotal character of the game," notes Williams Electronics vice president Neil Nicastro, supplying a reason for the video-games juggernaut. "In pinball there is role play, but you're not actually shooting aliens. Video perfected the sense of simulation."

Many young players found video games easier to manipulate than pinball, insists Roger Sharpe, an authority on the coin-operated-machine industry. "For players brought up in the TV generation, a joy stick or button control is more comfortable," claims the author of the 1977 book "Pinball!" and game designer and reviewer. "Pinball takes a lot of hand/eye coordination. It's this three-dimensional universe under glass.

"Video-games players would say to me: 'This is all random. I can't do this' . . . To many of them (video games were) a very precise science. At the count of 23 we shoot the space invaders . . . "

Saturation checked the video surge. An overdose of books on how to defeat games and home-computer cartridges made the medium too familiar. "The feeling became: 'That's it; where do I go from here?'," suggests Sharpe. " . . . 'This is a maze game I know about, I played it, that was fun for a year.' "

Instead of ignoring the enemy, pinball-machine makers began to insert into their products a number of the technological and aesthetic advances of video games. Blips and beeps were transformed into digitized phrases and sentences.

Sometimes machines speak without money. From "Eight Ball Deluxe" comes an eerie disembodied voice challenging wandering players to "Stop talking and start chalking" in some rawhide tavern under glass. Dawdle too long after inserting 25 cents in another machine and you'll get: "You're taking too long." Which leads to the question: Is a "1984" game next?

Video games also have inspired many task options. On current games, one can choose a skill level. Or play on several tiers. Or fire several balls simultaneously. Or score a million points with one shot.

Additional features have provoked demands for more challenges. To satisfy the adventurous, Bally/Midway created "Motordome," a thematic spinoff on the film "Mad Max III: Escape from Thunderdome." Players can work on three levels with ascending difficulty and maximum point values.

"More players are looking for more instantaneous rewards," insists Steve Blattspieler, a vice president of sales for Bally/Midway. "In the past, people were rewarded by scores of tens of millions. They're now into specific accomplishments, certain ramp shots . . . "

Pinball's extra stimulation, however, is not for everyone. "There are too many combinations for me," insists Jeff Handwerk of Trexlertown after a break at the Electrocade 1 arcade in the Trexler Mall. "During a game, I'll hit a special and all these lights will flash and it will throw my timing off. It makes me lose track of the ball."

In spite of new gimmicks, pinball remains largely a simple, direct, physical sport. "Sound effects can only take you so far," explains Sharpe. "What you're getting down to is a little silver ball on a playing field." Adds Nicastro: "Nobody's going to improve on colors or the artistic use of bumpers."